Manny Pacquiao Profile

Emmanuel Dapidran "Manny" Pacquiao is a professional boxer from the Philippines and is the reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight world champion and the International Boxing Organization (IBO) junior welterweight champion. Named "Fighter of the Decade" (for the 2000s) by the Boxing Writers Association of America, Pacquiao became the only fighter to win titles in eight different weight divisions during his career after defeating Antonio Margarito to claim the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight title in November 2010. Outside the ring, Pacquiao has an acting career and was recently elected to the House of Representatives in the Philippines' Congress.

Emmanuel Dapidran "Manny" Pacquiao was born in Kibawe, Bukidnon, in the Philippines on Dec. 17, 1978, to parents Rosalio and Dionesia Dapidran Pacquiao. The fourth of six children in the poor family, Manny began boxing as a young teenager. Despite his small stature, he compiled a successful amateur record after joining the Asian nation's amateur boxing team. 

Manny Pacquiao turned professional at 16 years old, winning his first bout by decsion over Edmund Ignacio in January 1995. Standing just short of 5 feet tall and weighing just over 100 pounds, Pacquiao began as a light flyweight and compiled a succesful record in that class before gaining some weight and moving up to the flyweight division. After capturing the Oriental/Pacific flyweight title, Pacquaio won the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt by knocking out Chatchai Sasakul (in the eighth round) in December 1998.

Pacquiao lost in his second defense of that title, knocked out by Medgoen Singsurat in the third round of their September 1999 fight. He soon moved up to the junior featherweight (or super bantamweight) division and won the WBC international title in that class, defeating Reynante Jamili. In June 2001, Pacquaio won his second world title by stopping Lehlohonolo Ledwaba by technical knockout to earn the International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior featherweight belt.

After successfully defending that title four times, Pacquiao moved up in class again. By virtue of a technical knockout (in the 11th round) of Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003, Pacquiao was named as the "lineal" champion in the featherweight division, thus becoming the first Asian fighter to claim world titles in three different divisions. Six months later, Pacquiao knocked down IBF champion Juan Manuel Marquez three times in the first round of a 12-round bout, but the battle went the distance and was ruled a draw by the judges' counts.

The small but powerful Filipino moved up to the super featherweight (or junior lightweight) class in 2005 to fight another three-division champion, Errik Morales of Mexico, for vacant WBC and IBF super featherweight titles in June of that year. Pacquiao lost the fight by decision, but then knocked out Hector Velazquez (in the sixth round) in September 2005 to earn the WBC international super featherweight title. A rematch with Morales followed in January 2006, with Pacquiao taking the bout by technical knockout to retain his WBC belt. A third fight with Morales was among Pacquiao's additional titles defenses, with Pacquiao knocking out the Mexican in three rounds in November 2006.

Following wins over Jorge Solis and Barrera, Pacquiao won a rematch with Marquez in March 2008. The split-decision victory gave Pacquiao the WBC super featherweight world title, The Ring's junior lightweight world title and the "lineal" junior lightweight title -- making him a world champion in a fourth weight class.

Rather than give Marquez a third fight, Pacquiao then moved up a division in search of another crown. His next fight (June 2008) was a ninth-round knockout of David Diaz, the reigning WBC lightweight world champion, to secure a world title in a fifth